Protective collars, often called "Elizabethan" collars in view of the appearance that some have when in place, have long been used in veterinary medicine to protect against contact between an animal's head and other parts of its body. The collars are used, for instance, after surgery to prevent an animal from biting or chewing at dressings or areas below its neck, or from pawing or scratching at dressings or areas on or about its head.
Frequently such collars have taken the general form of truncated cones. Such collars have been closed and thereby retained in place around the animal's neck by such things as interlocking tabs, snaps, lacing, staples, and the like. Such collars frequently need to be offered in a variety of sizes or size ranges to accommodate animals of various sizes, and the effective size range of a particular collar is often limited by the closure mechanism used. Such closure mechanisms are also frequently cumbersome and time-consuming to use.
Examples of such collars include "Buster" disposable collars, available from Jorgensen Laboratories (Denmark); "Saf-T Shield".TM. collars for birds and for small research animals, "Disposable Budget Collars" for small animals, and "EJAY Saf-T-Shield" collars, each available from Ejay International, Inc., Glendora, CA.
Other devices along these lines have been described, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,013,530, 3,072,098, 3,036,554, 3,942,306, 4,328,605, and 4,476,814.
Other closure mechanisms that have been used or proposed involve the use of VELCRO type closures provided on both ends of a collar, for instance of the type used with "Saf-T Shield" collars available from Ejay International, Inc., Glendale, CA. After initial fitting by the veterinarian however, such collars do not necessarily ensure compliant reapplication by the animal's owner, since the collars can be reapplied in essentially any of the sizes that were originally possible. Deliberate measures must be taken therefore, such as marking proper positions on the collar, if compliant reapplication is to be attempted.
What is needed is a collar that is quickly, easily, and accurately fittable and removable in a manner that ensures that reapplication will be done in a compliant manner.